Many Tomato Page scans from old seed catalogs

ronbrew · March 30, 2008

Thanks for the link. It's got a lot of interesting information. One part of the article talks about maybe Brandywine was really the Mikado or Turner's Hybrid. I would find that difficult to believe because Turner's Hybrid is shown as PL that is very productive. I also saw many references to it being early which Brandywine is not. Another strange thing is Burpee says they introduced it in 1886 and yet it's not listed 2 years later in the catalog of 1888. You have Johnson and Stokes writing about Brandywine in which they say they were the ones to receive seeds and name the variety. It just doesn't seem that they would change the name after just naming it. And of course we have old seeds that are said to be the name Brandywine. So I guess just something is strange about this that makes me wonder if it just did not catch on for farmers knowing how important yield and earliness was for survival of making a living at the time. That is why Livingston tomatoes are in all the catalogs every year because he developed tomatoes that grew well, produced well and were popular with farmers. That seems to make the most sense to me but maybe others have some other theory. Maybe some day someone will find something written that will solve the puzzle. Anyone have the 1886 and 1887 catalog of Burpee and Johnson and Stokes?
Ron

March 30, 2008	#10
ronbrew Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Bay Area California Posts: 23	Thanks for the link. It's got a lot of interesting information. One part of the article talks about maybe Brandywine was really the Mikado or Turner's Hybrid. I would find that difficult to believe because Turner's Hybrid is shown as PL that is very productive. I also saw many references to it being early which Brandywine is not. Another strange thing is Burpee says they introduced it in 1886 and yet it's not listed 2 years later in the catalog of 1888. You have Johnson and Stokes writing about Brandywine in which they say they were the ones to receive seeds and name the variety. It just doesn't seem that they would change the name after just naming it. And of course we have old seeds that are said to be the name Brandywine. So I guess just something is strange about this that makes me wonder if it just did not catch on for farmers knowing how important yield and earliness was for survival of making a living at the time. That is why Livingston tomatoes are in all the catalogs every year because he developed tomatoes that grew well, produced well and were popular with farmers. That seems to make the most sense to me but maybe others have some other theory. Maybe some day someone will find something written that will solve the puzzle. Anyone have the 1886 and 1887 catalog of Burpee and Johnson and Stokes? Ron